1. Field of the invention.
This invention relates to the oil industry and more particularly to a collection apparatus for waste oils, salt water or other environmental polluting liquids.
On oil field production sites both on and off shore a hazard to the environment exists due to improper disposal of such waste liquids.
This invention provides an apparatus for the collection and proper disposal of waste liquids.
2. Description of the prior art.
Oil drained from the crankcases of compressors or engines is frequently collected in buckets or pans and carried to a disposal tank on location. In some cases the waste oil is simply allowed to drain on or be poured into the ground where it creates the hazard of entering water streams or leaching into ground water aquifers. Further, in the dehydration gas process, utilizing chemicals which remove liquids from the gas stream before it is pumped to a user's supply line, these liquids are frequently drained by gravity into a container, such as an oil drum. The drum has its wall perforated and is buried below the surface of the earth. The liquids flowing thereinto are thus drained into the surrounding soil, generating a potential for ground water degradation and a leaching of such liquid into the ground water aquifer.
This apparatus provides for a collection, by gravity, of liquids from such sources which, when a predetermined quantity of liquid is collected, is moved by gas pressure to a proper disposal or recycling tank.